Knockdown wheeled toy



Nov 14, R950 L. M. HOLMES 2,529,692

KNOCKDOWN WHEELED TOY Filed NOV. 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 -/Z Zia/ 774a,

Nov. 14 11950 L. M. HOLMES 2,529,692

KNOCKDOWN WHEELED TOY Filed NOV. 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov.14, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a toy and more particularly to a toy for usein homes, nursery schools and the like, to encourage the ability ofconcentration in young children.

All children are interested in pull toys, and particularly those of thetype requiring selection and assembling of parts, which interest isaccentuated by the successful production of a toy that may be playedwith. By the present invention I have provided a toy of the typereferred to, which will give the child real enjoyment as well as beinstructive in character.

Among the objects of my invention are: to provide a novel and improvedtoy; to provide a toy device that will be simple to build and use and atthe same time stimulate ingenuity and afford the child real enjoyment;to provide a toy device that is flat and compact and may be used formaking toys representing different animals, birds, or other objects, anda plurality of which toy devices before assembling of the toy may bestored in flat envelopes or boxes in small space and be available foruse at different times to afford the pleasure of newness; to provide afront board member having openings of various shapes and a fixed backingboard to removably hold cut-out pieces in the openings, and whichcut-out pieces if desired may be die stamped out or cut out by a jig-sawfrom the front board so as to be capable of being inserted into andremovable from said openings after the backing board has been fixedthereto to form bottoms for the openings; to provide removable in-laysof animal or other shaped objects and accessory parts, to enable thechild to build a useful and stable toy, and enable training the child toput the parts neatly back into the board after disassembling the toy;and such further objects, advantages and capabilities, inherentlypossessed by my invention, as will later more fully appear.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a toy device embodying my invention beforeassembly of the toy.

Fig. 2 is a bottom edge view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse section on the line 3-3 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of a toy constructed from the partsshown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the toy shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 a front elevation of the toy shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a detail view in side elevation of the locking pin for holdingthe wheels on the axles.

In the form of my invention shown in the drawings, and referring to Fig.1, my invention comprises a front board member 8 having a plurality ofopenings die-cut therein, or cut out by a jig-saw or otherwise asdesired, and back of which front board is fixed by gluing, nailing orusing any other suitable fastening means desired, around the four edgesof the rear face of the front board, a backing board 2 which serves toform bottoms for said openings. The front board E and backing board 2will be of any suitable stiff material such as Masonite, compositionboard, cardboard, wood or other suitable material of sumcient stiffness.In the form shown in the drawings there is cut out from the body of thefront board before the backing board is fixed thereto an opening 1-, ofany desirable outline such as that of an animal, a bird or other object3, it being understood that when this object 4% is cut out it is madesmaller than the opening 3 to provide suilicient space around the edgesof the object to permit it to be readily removably inserted in theopening 3, particularly after the backing board has been fixed to therear face of the front board to serve as a bottom for the opening.

There are also formed in the front board by die or jig-saw cutting orotherwise as desired, a number of circular openings 5, so that theobjects 6 cut out from said circles, or otherwise provided, willconstitute wheels for the toy, which wheels will be removably insertedin the openings. In the front board there are also provided a pluralityof small circular openings 1 within which are removably mounted smalldisks 8 to form spacers, for spacing the wheels 5 apart during assemblyof the toy. As will be understood these spacers 8 will be removablypositioned in openings I. Also formed to extend through the front boardis an opening 9 of circular or other desired form having swingablymounted thereabove by a pin iii, a cover H. Front board l is alsoprovided with an elongated opening l2 of any desired shape, to receiveaxle members [3 and I4, and a pull string i 5 for attachment throughhole is in the forward part of the body portion 4 of the toy. These axlemembers and string are removably positioned in opening 12 so that theymay be removed therefrom during construction of the toy when required.Opening 9 is to receive a plurality (not less than 4 in the form of toyshown in the drawings) of locking pin members i? for locking the wheelsand spacers on the axles 3 during assembly of the toy. These lockingpins are shown in Figs. 3, and 5 to 8, and the axles and string ofopening I2 are shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

The toy object 4 is, at spaced locations in the bottom, formed withholes I8 and I9 to receive the front and rear axles I4 and I3respectively therethrough. In assembling the toy, which as stated mayhave a body portion of any desired shape, the child first takes the bodyportion 4 from opening 3, inserts the front axle through hole I8 and therear axle through hole I9, placing upon the axles one upon each side ofthe body portion a spacer 8. The child next takes from its opening inthe board I a wheel 6 and places this over the axle next to the spacer,continuing this for as many wheels and spacers as are desired. It willbe understood that each of the spacers has a central hole 20 and each ofthe wheels 6 has a central hole 2 I, through which holes the respectiveaxles extend, to permit rotation of the wheels on the axle and theplacing of these parts thereon.

As seen in Fig. 5 the particular toy illustrated is a dog, and, as willbe understood in Fig. 6, there are provided two front wheels spacedlaterally from the body portion by spacers 8, and six rear wheels spacedfrom each other and from the body portion by similar spacers. Thisconstruction affords a stable toy by reason of the rear wheels beingspaced apart from each other and extending a substantial distancelaterally of the toy. When the axles, which may be of any lengthdesired, are filled to the proper extent with wheels and spacers, therewill be applied through holes 22 in the ends of the axles, locking pinsI"! (one in each end), which locking pins as seen in Fig. 8 are providedwith a straight arm 23 to be inserted through the hole in the axle, andan upwardly curved arm 24 having at its forward end a cam member 25whose inner edge is suificiently close to the arm 23 that, due to theresiliency of arm 24, this cam will ride over the outer surface of theaxle while the pin is being applied thereto and after passing over therounded surface of the axle will spring inwardly toward arm 23 so thatthese locking pins will not be lost out of the axle holes, and willrequire a slight pull by the child to remove them from the axle whendisassembling the toy.

From the above it is seen that I have provided a toy device of greatattraction to a child, and one that will not only give the childconsiderable enjoyment but will be instructive in cultivating in thechild ingenuity and concentration. These toy devices may be, when in theform shown in Fig. 1, inserted in flat envelopes, which may be storedaway, and when the child becomes tired of playing with one particulartoy shape, its parts may be disassembled and returned to the board,which may be put away in its envelope and a new envelope and filledboard of another object taken out which will further stimulate thechilds interest because of newness. By having a number of theseenvelopes the child may from time to time have and construct a new toywithout becoming unduly tired of the old toy.

While in the particular device shown for illustrative purposes only,there are provided in the front board I, and in the assembled toy ofFig. 6, eight wheels and eight spacers it will be understood that anyother number of wheels and spacers may be used as desired and any othernumber assembled upon the toy in the particular grouping desired,instead of the particular arrangement shown in Fig. 6. This givesconsiderable latitude to the child in assembling the toys, and all thatis necessary to change the number of wheels and spacers is to provideaxles of the desired length.

I claim:

1. An in-lay toy device, including: a stifi composite board made up of afront board having openings therethrough and a stiif backing boardsecured to said front board and forming a permanent bottom for each ofsaid openings, one of said openings being of the outline of a bodyportion of a toy, others of said openings being of the shape of a wheeldisk, others being of the shape of spacers, one of said openings beingof elongated shape, and another opening having a movable cover; a bodyportion of a toy removably seated in its respective opening; a pluralityof wheel disks removably seated in their respective openings; aplurality of spacers removably seated in their respective openings; axlemembers and a pull string removably seated in the elongated opening; andlocking pins for engaging an axle member to secure the wheels andspacers thereon, said pins being removably contained in the opening withthe movable cover, whereby a child may remove the parts from the severalopenings and assemble them to form a toy to be pulled by the pullstring, said body, wheel disks and spacers being of such size and shapeas each to fit one of the openings.

2. A toy device of the character described including: a front boardhaving a plurality of openings of the shape of toy parts, at least oneof said openings having the outline of an animal, others of saidopenings being of the size and shape of a wheel, and others of saidopenings being of the size and shape of a spacer; a rigid non-frangiblebacking board immovably secured to the front board and forming apermanent bottom for each of said openings so that toy parts may beremoved from and replaced in said openings as desired; a toy piece ofthe peripheral outline of said animal, removably mounted in said one ofthe openings; a wheel part removably mounted in each of the wheelopenings; and a spacer part removably mounted in each of the spaceropenings, said toy piece, wheels and spacers being of such size andshape as each to fit one of said openings, whereby said toy piece,wheels and spacers may be stored in said toy device and removed whendesired for assembling into a toy.

LYDIA M. HOLMES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 367,941 Waite Aug. 9, 1887959,754 Kennedy May 31, 1910 1,526,079 Odenkirk Feb. 10, 1925 2,061,139Cohen Nov. 17,1936

2,287,634 Niven June 23, 1942 2,324,228 Nash July 13, 1943 2,347,561Howard et a1 Apr. 25, 1944 2,386,416 Wilhelm Mar. 9, 1945 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 172,434 Germany Nov. 4, 1905 573,301 FranceMar. 7, 1924

